Telco revenues suffer as shrewd subscribers dodge costly data charges

Users are not exceeding their data caps.

Telcos are doing their level best to lift mobile revenues by monetising data, but it seems that wily subscribers have the upper hand.

According to OCBC, despite more subscribers moving on to 4G tiered plans, post-paid ARPUs continue to edge lower for most of the telcos. 

Subscribers are becoming more discerning when it comes to using data--most are choosing switch to free WIFI whenever possible. 

“Indeed, we note that the percentage of tiered plan subscribers who exceed their data caps continues to remain below 20%. For example, SingTel reported in 3QCY13 that nearly 57% of its post-paid subscribers are on the new tiered pricing plans, but only 19% of them exceeded the data bundle; this versus 37% and 13% in 3QCY13 respectively. While some of the decline may be due to lower roaming revenue, we believe that the bulk is likely due to the persistent fall in voice and SMS usage,” noted OCBC.